Seis in a New Place

                            "Don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened" - Dr. Suess El Zocalo - Mexico City Cenote - Valladolid "Livin' the Dream" has been the theme of our marriage, our life together and it's probably not why you think. Kevin and I talked a lot about kids when we were dating and engaged. There was no doubt that we wanted to have children, and I wanted a lot of them, but we also started later in life and didn't know what that meant for being able to grow a family. Well, it turned out that it was NOT EASY! I won't go into great detail, but every child in our family is a true miracle. We struggled with every pregnancy and lost a lot of early term babies. We spent years in and out of fertility clinics and years with our sole focus being getting pregnant and staying pregnant. The bible verse "For this child I have prayed" 1Samuel 1:27 strikes a chord with us. We were on our k...

Hey all, I love my job teaching English to kids in China! I have gotten enough questions about it that I thought I would write a quick post. So here's some info: I teach through VIPKID. I teach students one on one. The kids I teach are anywhere between the ages of 5-12 years old. What are the qualifications to teach? A Bachelor's degree (or higher) in any field. Eligibility to work in the US or Canada. At least 1 year of teaching experience (includes homeschooling, tutoring, coaching, mentoring or other life experiences) What do you like about it? The kids are great. I can teach from anywhere. I set my own schedule. The classes are 25 minutes each. Do you need any special equipment? A decent computer with a camera (or a webcam) An Ethernet cable that will reach to a modem (this is preferable). Mine is 50 feet long. Really reliable Wifi Headphones with a microphone Some basic props - a puppet, teacher name tag, flashcards, easy stuf...

"How lucky am I to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard." - Winnie the Pooh Oh friends, I am so very sad. It is the day after we made the decision to head home early. I just finished teaching my sweet kiddos in China and I am sitting here crying. I am mourning the time that we have lost on our adventure. It is hitting me slowly, in waves, all of the things that I meant to do or thought I still had time to accomplish or see or explore. I am not ready to go back. I will miss the sunshine and the ocean and the sand and the unique opportunity to take a look at our lives from a different perspective. I am sad that the kids were just starting to form some friendships and we have to say "good-bye". I am mourning the blog entries I meant to write. I am sad that I didn't arrive at an idea for the perfect career move for myself. I am frustrated that we didn't get to do our "one last times" here. I wanted to have a plan for going back and k...

"You have to taste a culture to understand it." - Deborah Cater          Now, how could we do a blog about living in Mexico without doing a post about food? Many people have asked if we have changed how we eat here. Well, on weeknights, we mostly eat at home and stick to the regulars that we would make when we were in Minnesota: lasagne, chicken parmesan, fajitas, tacos, hamburgers...although things that have guacamole and corn tortillas have nudged their way in more often. Fridays we continue to do pizza and a movie like we have always done. We love to eat out, but with a family the size of ours you have to be careful because the "eating out budget" can quickly get left in the dust. When we do venture out, we like to try new things. I've been impressed with the kids and their willingness to take a taste of things like octopus or shark tostadas. They also have come to learn about new foods from what their classmates eat at school. They have...

"Most of my important lessons about life have come from recognizing how others from a different culture view things. - Edgar H. Shein This post is inspired by my friend Betsy, who is living for a year with her family in Paris. We are living somewhat parallel lives which is a really nice support to have. She wrote a post titled "Paris told in 10 photos" Here is my version. Thanks, Betsy: So, here are ten things we have a new view on since arriving in Playa del Carmen, Mexico: 1. A typical food in this region is nopales, or cactus. I have yet to try and prepare any myself but have eaten it in restaurants. It tastes a bit like green pepper. There is a person at the grocery store whose job it is to remove the little sharp thingies on the cactus. Cleaner of Nopales at work 2. The pick up line at school. Deep breaths. The road where the school sits comes right off the highway and is a narrow road carved out of the jungle. If you pass the school, there are abo...